The first part of the paper concentrates on the motive of desire, strictly related to the concept of will, in two stories from Les Ombres sanglantes [The Bloody Shadows] (1820) by J. P. R. Cuisin. Afterwards, the theme of power, considered firstly in the physical aspect and then in its supernatural dimension, is analyzed in further four stories. The article concludes with thoughts on the literary objectives of Cuisin’s book and on its potentially caricatural side.